Airbus faces high hurdles over stalled A380 Emirates deal, including call to keep program going 10 years

BUSINESS

Airbus faces high hurdles over stalled A380 Emirates deal, including call to keep program going 10 years

Fabrice Bregier, chief operating officer of Airbus SE, looks on ahead of a Bloomberg Television interview in Berlin on Thursday. Airbus might yet win a long-anticipated A380 superjumbo order from Gulf carrier Emirates before the end of the year, but must pledge to extend the ailing program for a further decade in order to secure the deal. | BLOOMBERG

Reuters

Nov 20, 2017

DUBAI, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES – A preliminary deal to sell 36 A380s to Emirates blew up in an Airbus hospitality chalet moments before the Gulf carrier was expected to shower $30 billion on the plane maker and its U.S. rival Boeing at the start of last week’s Dubai Airshow.

Two top Emirates officials broke the news to Airbus CEO Tom Enders and his sales chief, John Leahy, that the widely expected $16 billion deal would not be signed that day, leaving uncertainty over the future of the world’s largest jetliner.

The halt came so swiftly that Airbus PR executives who were already in place for a double-signing ceremony a hundred yards away found themselves awkwardly among the audience as Boeing walked away with the sole Emirates order, worth $15 billion.